Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Title might have
made you think-HOW SOMEONE CAN COUNT AN ABSTRACT NOUN IN TERMS OF
KILOMETRE?!?!” This guy is insane. But believe me. This is what you will say
once you follow same patch of wood I followed last Sunday(15th July, '12).

I guess in
the traveling rulebook it is the unwritten rule-Make any plans; you are going
to be late whatsoever you predict! This time credit goes to Kartik. :

So intro
part. This time we had a mixed-age group personalities. Me, Ojas, Kartik, Ashwin,
Adviat, Shaunak, Swarali, Apurva, Hiteshee (still not sure about pronunciation
neither spelling), Kedar dada and Hemant dada.

WWOOWW!!!
This time girls were with us. Adrenaline level went high at same instant. म्हणून आम्ही
चहा नाही घेतला! ;)

Advait, our
organiser cum cashier cum guide cum a very nice and humorous friend booked a
Tata Sumo for our by-road journey. It was 10 seater. And we were 11. So, one
was extra. Someone popped with idea that the one with least weight has to place
himself on one with the strongest leg limb. It was found that prior one was
Advait(50 kgs) and counter one was Ojas.

Meantime in
journey I came to know folks i.e. Advait, Kedar dada and Hemant dada were don
in their respective field. So, felt privileged being with them.

And Advait
was simply hilarious. Even his topics were in no way concerned with me but they
were making me go leaps and bounds. He let us know his some very
humiliating-embarrassing-awkward trek experiences including sugarcane and white
sweater incidents and then unintentionally me and Ojas also came with ours. But
contrary to trek it was a college incident (for which I can never gather
courage to explain :D)

In all this jabbering
we reached our destination-Makhla.

पोहचल्या-पोहचल्या मी मस्त माझा camera काढला. छान
scenario भेटट होता. 1-2 photos काढलेत. मागे वळून पाहतोतकाय, each and everyone was having their
digital cameras. I felt like. शीईईई!! Why I brought one then?!?! The worst drawback of having
your own camera is that you get the least space on your own memory card. :D

And the best
revenge is to place yourself in theirs. B-)

We
headed-off to Makhla rest-house. Enroute Kartik (indeed a very great
photographer) taught me some basis lessons of photography.

मी,
Kartik, Ojas आणि
Swarali photography मध्ये मग्न. In which Swarali and Ojas were completely disappointed with
their bridge cameras. :D But suddenly rain started and we rush to rest-house
for shed. Not cause we don’t like rain; but we love our gadgets.

There we
done with our introductory part. Had our brief introduction along with small
photo session. In-between Advait went to take permission for trekking [Thanks
to Surabhi.. OOPs!! Sonali.. Aww..aww.. sorry-Swarali and group for this new
rule here! ;)]

WOW!! Then I
geared-up myself for a backbreaking journey. Till now we were in the suburbs of
a small village. Now-on we headed towards the lower altitude of Melghat
plateau.

The aisle
was very narrow. Stony. No grass. Slippery. Lose soil. And crooked.

For few
seconds I feel like-HAVE I GONE MAD? AM GOING ON THIS ROAD. AM YET TO FULFILL
MY DREAMS.

But roadwere only leading to downstairs! There was no return back.

So, I decided
to stay in last and try some hand over photography.

By 12 pm we were
mid-way to river bank. And I don’t think anyone was left to slip-off through
the aisle. Some even enjoyed it for many occasions. One with the fatty bum realised
at last their bum has some use. ;)

Female homo
homo sapiens were quite slow. So, I decided to move-on faster and do some rest.

I landed-off
well on river bank and had some eye-sighting. It was indeed splendid. It was
more than I expect it would be.

Amidst the
green dense forest. Water flowing with the gushing sound. Birds tweeting. I was
enjoying these mos.

Now the road
was quite easy. The local officials constructed okay-okay type concrete roadway
to our destination.

But it too
wasn’t that easy.

It was just
10 minutes by now and we faced an issue. Apurva got cramps. Everyone at the
front-frontier was moving steadily, unaware of what happened behind. But we
can’t. Thanks to Kedar dada. With the magic of experience he asked her to do
some stretching and did some massage; she was okay then.

For few
second we thought it’s a landslide or earthquake. We all panicked. But then
realised it was Ojas who was checking gravity there. He slept in muddy puddle. Silly
boy, don’t even knew with altitude only air pressure changes. Not gravity.
Though he learned it in a very good manner. :D

With each
step our muscles were paining due to cramps moreover we neither had our lunch
yet.

But we kept
moving!

It was 2 pm.

One wrong step!! And you are gone :P

Route was
okay till now. But there came an obstacle! An obstacle; which from my
perspective was end of trek. Till now parallel roads were available with river.
It wasn’t the case here. There was a pool surrounded by steep rocky surface.
Only option was to swim and reach the other region. But then we all gathered
our courage and creep along walls of big mountains. One wrong move and directly
in deep muddy water. Unaware of even how to flap hands in case of drowning; but
we kept moving. At some places space in cracks was just enough to fit-in leg
thumbs.

We all were
feeling like spider-man for few minutes and then Bear Gryll for another few
minutes!! :D :D

Husshhh..!! A
sigh of relief. Everyone by now was on safe side.

Finally, we
were at our destination.

AWESTRUCKED!!!

Slow flux of
air was blowing. Trees were gushing. Stream was impressing.

Far away
there was a huge waterfall. Bakadari waterfall. Around 250-300 high. The water
from waterfall was crawling towards us. A beautiful scenario it was.

But in-between
waterfall and us there was a big water-pool. Roadway to other side was
literally tough. But many of us managed to go other side. I and Ojas can’t. We
were having our gadgets with us! :(

So, we
decided to step aback.

Then it
started drizzling and rock wall became wet and slippery.

Folks on our
side were safe in shelter. But those on other side were in haste to reach safe
side.

Suddenly all
heard the sound of big splash!!! We all rushed to see what happened. Swarali was drenched with water. She fell in
water and was quite lucky that it was shallow place. Meanwhile Ojas got this gag
once-in-a-lifetime-to-laugh situation. And he utilised in very great manner.

After all
this we had our lunch. Everyone bring his share; except me! Being a tenant it
was impossible for me though. But I enjoyed sandwich, थाली-पीठ, jam, चटनीand चीवडा. Everyone was very hungry and
attacked the food like in the whole world for 7 billion people only that much
food was left. If they don’t get that then they are going to die.

In search
of an optional road Hemant dadaclimb the hill. But ill-fate was that in all this he lost his road.
But we all decided to keep moving on. With the ray of hope that they might be
on the other side.

Advait with
his trekking experience kept giving a call like-

A...OOOO...!!!

A...OOOO...!!!
[As per him this is the universal call all trekkers use over the world]

When he was
tensed under these circumstances me, Ojas, Kartik and Swarali were chaffering.
In turn Shaunak, Ashwin, Hitaishee and Apurvaa were silent. May be they were
more mature to understand the situation.

And then
Advait took a firm decision. He divided our group into three. He was like अंग्रेजो के
जमाने का jailer- दोघे मागे जा, दोघेइथे थांबाआणि उरलेले
माझ्या सोबत या! :D

Thus our
group was divided into three. I was in the group which was stand-still,
accompanied by Kartik and Ashvin. But in no time Ojas and Kedar dada flashed
along with Hemant dada. Hussshh..!! Again a sigh of relief. जान मे जान आयी.

Contrary to
full of vim in morning. Everyone was completely
drained. Stinky. Fagged out. Sweaty.

We finally
reached Amravati. First Apurva then Hitaishee then Shaunak, Ashvin everyone
were dropped at their respective localities. Remaining buddies were landed at
the bus - stop. Done with some formalities.

And with
this our adventurous, thrilling, exhaustive and refreshing trek was over!!!

It was a
dream for me to have an adventurous trek in monsoon; irrespective of venue.

I checked out the scenario…shocked to see that no-one was in room. Went over
to wear shoe..they too were disappeared.

Then my eardrums were struck by 180 decibel
sound. My mind suddenly clicked and I get to know that all were rolling over in
jungle. They were getting what they came in search of. Complete control over
their activities (in short no one was there to censure them).

Chit-chat continued. Wait was just of dawn (cause water
was lacking in pipes. And why everyone was so desperate for water supply is
another thing! :P).”

झाली एकदाची सकाळ. All went to free up themselves. If someone
took even some miliseconds than expected then door banging sound was certain.
:D :D

अस करत- करत with almost lightning speed and manual force
we all accomplished our individual missions!!

Now the time was of having Rabdi. I was having stomach
ache cause of last night’s veggie. So, I preferred not to eat those eatables. Everyone
was having it with great pleasure. I was like a very poor kid sitting outside a
toy shop, can only gets happiness from smile of other children’s. पण बाकी सगळ्यांचे
पोट दूखणार होतेच, आणि दुखले सुध्धा. :D

Then we headed-off to Chikhaldara. It was some 24 km from
Semadoh. But the road was zig-zag which was going to make this an hour long
journey!